clever trousers wrote:

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I just want to say a big hearty FUCK YOU to anyone that thinks "miracles" occur because of prayer. Because what you are saying is that all the people that have died or suffered, when they have had people praying for them, well gosh darnit those people weren't praying hard enough, or did not live a devout enough life.
FUCK YOU and fuck everyone that looks like you.

X

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.

In another of the study's findings, a significantly higher number of the patients who knew that they were being prayed for - 59 percent - suffered complications, compared with 51 percent of those who were uncertain. The authors left open the possibility that this was a chance finding. But they said that being aware of the strangers' prayers also may have caused some of the patients a kind of performance anxiety.

"It may have made them uncertain, wondering am I so sick they had to call in their prayer team?" Dr. Bethea said.

The study also found that more patients in the uninformed prayer group - 18 percent - suffered major complications, like heart attack or stroke, compared with 13 percent in the group that did not receive prayers. In their report, the researchers suggested that this finding might also be a result of chance.

kxaalum wrote:

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We were surprised when we arrived home today and found a package on our doorstep. Inside the box were 2 beautiful handmade blankets. The blankets were from a very kind person here in the Houston area. It is always so nice to see there are so many great people out there who are so kind and thoughtful. This to me exemplifies the true love of Christ, showing such kindness to someone you don't even know. A big thank you for the time put into making these beautiful blankets. A big thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers on our and our children's behalf.